Reno Martial Arts
里諾武術
Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong
A History of Kung Fu
From the Plum Blossom International Federation
According to his website Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong was born in Wangshan village of Wushan area, Doumen
district of Zhuhai City, Guangdong province on July 16, 1948 * lunar calendar
6-10-1948.
In April 1960, when Grandmaster was just 11 years old, he immigrated to San Francisco with his mother to be reunited with his father in America. Because he could not speak english very well during his first few years in this country he was taunted, teased and bullied.
He said, "It is because of those difficulties that I sought out his first kung fu
teacher, Great-Grandmaster Lau Bun, the founder of the Hung Sing Kwoon of
Choy Li Fut Kung Fu in America. After Lau Bun passed away in 1967, he
opened his own school when I was only 19 years old."
Doc Fai Wong has been teaching martial arts in the San Francisco Bay Area since
1968.
Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong was also the Tai Chi Chuan instructor at San Francisco
City College from 1974 to 2003. In 2004, he became the
Head Instructor of the Tai Chi Club of the Telegraph
Hill Neighborhood Center in San Francisco as well as the contributing editor of
INSIDE KUNG FU Magazine.
In 1975, he went to Hong Kong to search for high ranking
masters to improve his martial arts knowledge. He
became the first disciple of the Great-Grandmasters of
Hu Yuen Chou and Wong Gong.
He traveled to Hong Kong for his senior advanced level
martial arts training each year from 1975 to 1997 during the summers and
winters consecutively. From 1989 on, he invited his teachers to come to the
U.S. to teach seminars to his students and his students' students as well.
Now, he is the Grandmaster and President of our federation, making him one
of the highest ranking Choy Li Fut masters in the world. In 1987 he became
the inheritor of the Kong Chow branch of Choy Li Fut having been promoted to
grandmaster status by his teacher Great-Grandmaster Wong Gong and has
attained Grandmaster status in other branches as well.
He is also a second-generation
disciple of
Yang Cheng-Fu, having studied under
Hu Yuen-Chou, a closed-door disciple of Yang Cheng-Fu. Yang Cheng-Fu was the grandson of the founder
of the Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan.
Hu Yuen-Chou ranked Doc-Fai Wong to be the Grandmaster of his federation before his retirement in 1987.
Today his Plum Blossom International Federation has over one hundred schools world-wide, making it one of the largest Kung Fu organizations
in the world. Choy Li Fut Branch schools are located throughout the
USA, Canada, Central and South America, Europe, Asia,
Middle East, Africa, Philippines and even Tahiti! Now,
Grandmaster Wong has certified instructors from his
students down to the fourth generation teaching in his
international federation.
Doc-Fai Wong is also a high level Chi Kung practitioner, being a longtime disciple and adopted son of
Professor Peng-Si Yu and Min Ou-Yang, two of
China's greatest Chi Kung and Yi Quan teachers.
Doc-Fai Wong was the coach for the United States team competing in the
Republic of China International Tai Chi Chuan Federation's World Championship Push Hands competition -
an international tournament held every few years in
Taiwan. In 1987, his team was the first and only U.S.
team to win anything at this tournament, placing second
only to Taiwan. The next time the tournament was held in
1990, Doc-Fai Wong's team again placed second. In October 2004, Grandmaster
Wong took a largest U.S. team of 40 people to compete in the First World
Traditional Wushu Tournament held in Zhengzhou, China. Doc-Fai Wong and his
son Sifu Jason Wong each won gold and silver medals which brought home a
total of 72 medals, 20 gold, 38 silver and 14 bronze medals from his team.
In 1991 he was awarded the Kung Fu Artist of the Year
by Black Belt magazine. He has also been
featured on the covers of martial arts
magazines more than 20 times, and has written over 200 articles produced
several books and over 40 instructional videos. He has been a monthly columnist for Inside
Kung Fu since 1986. Featured in Who's Who in California, Doc-Fai Wong is a recognized leader in American martial
arts.
Doc-Fai Wong was selected as one of the top 50 most influential martial arts
personalities in the world by Inside Kung Fu magazine in 1986, along with Bruce
Lee and Jackie Chan. In 2003 Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong was inducted into the
Martial Arts History
Museum's Martial Arts HALL OF FAME. In the August 2005 issue of
Inside Kung Fu magazine Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong was picked as one of
the Top 18 Greatest Sifus in America.
In addition to martial arts, Doc-Fai Wong also practices
Traditional Chinese medicine and in 1977 became a California state certified
acupuncturist and holds a doctorate degree in Allied Health Sciences.
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